RUTA 3 is a long stretch from San Julian to Caleta Olivia … fuel up before you go. We drove on flat treeless Patagonian steppe, the road typically arrow-straight to the horizon. The Atlantic was a few miles off to our right, but about 1000 feet lower than the steppe, where the landscape abruptly descended via cliffs down to ocean waves crashing on rocks.
We took a detour out of Puerto San Julian to see the cliffs, and spent an hour watching a pack of sea lions on those rocks, highly cool. This seldom-used scenic route wasn’t in our guide book, but it should be ... maybe we should write our own.
There was a honkin’ cross wind this afternoon while driving on two-lane Ruta 3 on that treeless steppe, and we experienced a shock wave with every oncoming truck. The camper would suddenly pull hard directly toward the passing vehicle, we’d hear a boom that sounded like a cannon being fired into a wind tunnel, and our heads would snap to the right as the top of the camper was yanked to the left. This only occurred with a strong cross wind -- nothing like it with either a head or tail wind – and the phenomenon was very encouraging to the driver to keep both hands on the wheel.
Now camping in a private campground outside of Caleta Olivia. The temperature dropped after a front passed through today, and it will be a cold night.
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